Electronic equipment
In order to ensure waterproofing between a resin enclosure case and a heat sink, a canopy structure is provided in a portion, in which water is likely to penetrate, so as to prevent the water from entering the portion, thereby directing the water flow to the outside of the enclosure. This makes it easy to install and remove an electronic unit, so that an electronic component integrally formed with the heat sink can be easily replaced.
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The present application claims priority from Japanese patent application serial no. 2007-221425, filed on Aug. 28, 2007, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to electronic equipment, and more particularly to electronic equipment installed outdoors.
Outdoor equipment enclosures for North America must successfully complete the standards of North America. Particularly, it is necessary to pass the following three tests relating to waterproofing, which are described in “Generic Requirements for Electronic Equipment Cabinets”, Telcordia Technologies, March 2000, GR-487-CORE issue 2, Section 3.28. Incidentally, Wind Driven Rain test is the most severe of the three tests.
1. Wind Driven Rain test
After water spraying on the front surface, right surface, and left surface of an enclosure for 30 minutes each with a rainfall intensity of 150 mm/hr and a wind speed of 31 m/sec, the amount of water penetrating into the enclosure shall not exceed 1 cm^3 (cm3) (1 gram of water) per 0.028 m^3 (m3) (1 ft^3 (ft3)).
2. Rain Intrusion Test
Water droplets accumulated in the surface grooves and the door frame shall not enter the enclosure immediately after heavy rain. After water spraying on the front surface and the two side surfaces for 15 minutes each, the amount of water penetrating into the enclosure shall not exceed 1 cm^3 (cm3) (1 gram of water) per 0.028 m^3 (m3) (1 ft^3 (ft3)).
3. Lawn Sprinklers Test
After simulation of sprinkler water spraying at a downward angle of 45 degrees on the front surface and the two side surfaces for 15 minutes or 45 minutes in total, the amount of water penetrating into the enclosure shall not exceed 1 cm^3 (cm3) (1 gram of water) per 0.028 m^3 (m3) (1 ft^3 (ft3)).
Meanwhile, IPX4 defined in international standard IEC/EN60529 (JIS C0920) also specifies as criteria that water splashing against the enclosure shall have no harmful effect. In other words, the provisions of “Generic Requirements for Electronic Equipment Cabinets”, Telcordia Technologies, March 2000, GR-487-CORE issue 2, Section 3.28 are unique in that they require the prevention of water penetration, in addition to the protection against harmful effect of water splash.
In addition to the waterproof standard described above, the outdoor equipment enclosure for North America should meet the requirement that an electronic component housed therein can easily be replaced. In other words, the enclosure should have a structure capable of replacing an internal unit including an electronic component within the enclosure, instead of replacing the whole equipment, for the maintenance and replacement of the equipment. This is also the specification that allows the installation of the enclosure first and then the installation of the internal unit afterwards.
Further, from the point of view of the cost and weight, the material of the enclosure is preferably resin. However, it is difficult for a resin seal enclosure to fully achieve radiation performance. Hence, it is necessary to ensure the radiation performance by providing an opening in the resin enclosure through which a radiation fin of a heat sink thermally connected to the electronic component, is partially exposed to the outside of the resin enclosure. Here, the heat fin may be splashed with water, but the water penetration into portions other than the radiation fin is not allowed.
In general, the electronic component and the heat sink are connected via a thermally conductive sheet. For this reason, it is difficult to remove only a board in which the electronic component is mounted for maintenance and replacement, so that the electronic component is removed and replaced together with the heat sink.
In JP-A No. Hei 10-173371, there is described an enclosure structure of electronic equipment that facilitates heat conduction from the inside to the outside of the enclosure. The enclosure structure is designed to improve the efficiency of radiation from the inside to the outside of the enclosure, by providing a heat sink for radiating heat from the inside out, in which a radiation surface of the heat sink is exposed out to the bottom of the enclosure. However, this structure uses a packing (O-ring) for waterproofing. The use of the packing requires precise control of the amount of crush of the packing, thereby requiring a lot of screws for tightening the packing. Further, it is also necessary to manage a tightening torque. Consequently, it is difficult to easily install and remove the internal unit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides electronic equipment installed outdoors to house an electronic component and other parts, in which the electronic equipment meets the waterproof standard of North America and allows easy replacement of the electronic component housed therein.
The above can be achieved by electronic equipment including: an electronic component installed in an enclosure with a cover and a case having an opening; and an internal unit including a radiation fin and a heat sink for radiating heat generated by the electronic component, the radiation fin being inserted into the opening. The heat sink has a draining portion extending in a direction perpendicular to an extending direction of the radiation fin, in the bottom of the radiation fin.
Further, it can be achieved by electronic equipment including: an electronic component installed in an enclosure with a cover and a case having an opening; and an internal unit including a radiation fin and a heat sink for radiating heat generated by the electronic component, the radiation fin being inserted into the opening. The heat sink has a draining portion extending in a direction perpendicular to an extending direction of the radiation fin, in the bottom of the heat sink.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described based on examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description will not be repeated. Here,
In
Incidentally, the lower air vent is not seen in
Incidentally, in order to simplify the illustration, there is shown that the height of the internal unit 50 is low relative to the depth of the case 20.
The case 20 will be described with reference to
The components of the electronic equipment will be described with reference to
The cover 30 has door-side hinge portions 42 which are engaged with the frame-side hinge portions 41 of
The cross sectional structure after assembly as the electronic equipment will be described with reference to
Incidentally, the upper air vent 120 and the lower air vent 110 are not shown in the cross section of the case 10 in
The detail in the vicinity of the canopy portion will be described with reference to
In
Further, the length b of the canopy 531 may be any value as long as the water droplets can be cut. However, the present inventors consider that preferably the length b is about the same as a height c, because the canopy 531 could be destroyed when it is too long. Also, in order to prevent the destruction of the canopy 531, a wall thickness d should have a certain thickness. In addition, it is necessary to provide a space 532 to prevent the water droplets from entering the gap 60 between the case 20 and the heat sink 530 along the canopy 531. At this time, when the space 532 is small, the water droplets may enter the gap 60 along the canopy 531 during a storm, so that the space 532 should have a certain area. Further, preferably an angle dimension e of the canopy 531 is determined so that the water droplets fall in a direction separating from the gap 60. In the embodiment, the length b is defined as 9.84 mm, the height c as 7.67 mm, the wall thickness d as 3 mm, and the angle e as 10.16 degrees, respectively. The waterproof test was performed under Wind Driven Rain with a sample of the above dimensions, and confirmed that the sample was acceptable.
Incidentally, the draining portion described with reference to
The detailed structure of the heat sink and the case will be described with reference to
While in
The first rib 201 is fitted into the first groove 533 upon assembly. Similarly, the second rib 202 is fitted into the second groove 534. Even if the water droplets may not be completely prevented by the canopy 531 and may enter from the gap 60 between the case 20 and the heat sink 530, a first fitting portion between the first groove 533 and the first rib 201 prevents the water from penetrating into the enclosure 1 (water sealing). The first fitting portion has a small space in which the water droplets are held by the surface tension, so that the water is prevented from penetrating into the enclosure. In the embodiment, an f dimension (f1) of the space is defined as 1 mm. The water penetration is also prevented in the fitting portion between the second groove 534 and the second rib 202. Thus, the case has a double water-proof structure. Incidentally, an f dimension (f2) of the second fitting portion is defined as f2<f1 to realize higher water sealing performance.
In
Next, a variation of the draining portion will be described with reference to
Incidentally, the draining portion may include other variations than the above described structures of the canopy portions 531 and 531A, as long as the water is cut in the direction of the force of gravity.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide electronic equipment installed outdoors to house an electronic component and other parts, in which the electronic equipment meets the waterproof standard of North America and allows easy replacement of the electronic component housed therein.
Claims
1. An electronic equipment comprising:
- an electronic component installed in an enclosure with a cover and a case having an opening; and
- an internal unit including a heat sink and a radiation fin extending from the heat sink in a direction substantially perpendicular thereto for radiating heat generated by the electronic component, the radiation fin being inserted into the opening,
- wherein the heat sink has a canopy extending therefrom in a direction substantially perpendicular to the extending direction of the radiation fin at a position proximate to a bottom of the radiation fin, and
- wherein the canopy is set so as not to exceed an area of the opening of the case.
2. The electronic equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a water sealing portion including a groove and a rib between the case and the heat sink.
3. The electronic equipment according to claim 2, further comprising a rib of the case in the bottom of the canopy in order to prevent spouted water from penetrating into the case.
4. The electronic equipment according to claim 2, further comprising a plurality of the water sealing portions between the case and the heat sink.
5. The electronic equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a rib of the case in the bottom of the canopy in order to prevent spouted water from penetrating into the case.
6. The electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein the canopy extends so as to cover a gap between the case and the heat sink.
7. The electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein the canopy has a slope portion which extends outwardly.
8. An electronic equipment comprising:
- an electronic component installed in an enclosure with a cover and a case having an opening; and
- an internal unit including a heat sink and a radiation fin extending from the heat sink in a direction substantially perpendicular thereto for radiating heat generated by the electronic component, the radiation fin being inserted into the opening,
- wherein the heat sink has a canopy extending therefrom in a direction substantially perpendicular to the extending direction of the radiation fin at a position proximate to a bottom of the heat sink, and
- wherein the canopy is set so as not to exceed an area of the opening of the case.
9. The electronic equipment according to claim 8, further comprising a water sealing portion including a groove and a rib between the case and the heat sink.
10. The electronic equipment according to claim 9, further comprising a rib of the case in the bottom of the canopy in order to prevent spouted water from penetrating into the case.
11. The electronic equipment according to claim 9, further comprising a plurality of the water sealing portions between the case and the heat sink.
12. The electronic equipment according to claim 8, further comprising a rib of the case in the bottom of the canopy in order to prevent spouted water from penetrating into the case.
13. The electronic equipment according to claim 8, wherein the canopy extends so as to cover a gap between the case and the heat sink.
14. The electronic equipment according to claim 8, wherein the canopy has a slope portion which extends outwardly.
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- English translation of Sugiyama, JP11-230583, Published Aug. 27, 1999. Machine translation retrieved on Dec. 7, 2009.
Type: Grant
Filed: Jan 30, 2008
Date of Patent: Aug 24, 2010
Patent Publication Number: 20090059534
Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd. (Tokyo)
Inventors: Koji Hata (Yokohama), Hiroshi Kuwaki (Fujisawa), Yasushi Kimura (Yokohama), Shinya Hamagishi (Fujisawa)
Primary Examiner: Jayprakash N Gandhi
Assistant Examiner: Robert J Hoffberg
Attorney: Antonelli, Terry, Stout & Kraus, LLP.
Application Number: 12/022,189
International Classification: H05K 7/20 (20060101); H05K 5/00 (20060101);